Name: The Scottish Enlightenment: Women in Dance and Music
Start: 2025-02-08T11:00:00Z
End: 2025-02-08T12:00:00Z
Location: The Wighton Heritage Centre

The Scottish Enlightenment: Women in Dance and Music

Les Danses Antiques

Discover stories of women in Scotland's performing art history during the Enlightenment period through dance and music

The Wighton Heritage Centre

The Scottish Enlightenment: Women in Dance &amp; MusicThe Scottish Enlightenment was a transformative period that profoundly shaped modern Scotland, fostering innovation and cultural growth. Scottish intellectuals and artists such as Adam Smith, David Hume, Robert Adam, Allan Ramsay and others became international authorities in philosophy, science, and the visual arts. This era also witnessed a revival of Scottish performing arts, marked by the construction of theatres, concert halls, and ballrooms—first in Edinburgh and later in other Scottish towns. Scottish and Scotland-inspired music and dance gained popularity on amateur and professional stages throughout Europe, with composers like Haydn and Beethoven arranging traditional tunes for fashionable drawing rooms and concert performances.During this vibrant period, women emerged as active contributors and influential consumers in the performing arts. They served as patrons, supporting musicians and dancers, development of concert halls, assembly rooms, and theatres, thereby fuelling a flourishing artistic environment. The eighteenth century also saw the rise of Scotland’s first professional female performers, composers, teachers and troupe leaders. In this short lecture-recital, we aim to spotlight some of these often-overlooked figures through dance and music. We will explore stories of women such as the Lady Directresses of early dance assemblies, dancers like Marianne Violante and Sofia Parker, musicians like Magdalene Stirling and Sophia Dussek and discuss their contribution to Enlightenment Scotland’s artistic and cultural landscape.Alena Shmakova has studied historical dance since 2006, attending workshops and courses by the Historical Dance Society, Nordic Baroque Dancers and others. In addition to her dance experience, Alene pursued the MLitt in History at the University of the Highlands and Islands, researching the Scottish dance scene in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Since 2013, she has taught historical dance in Edinburgh, performing at sites such as Holyrood Palace and Stirling Castle, as well as at Early Dance Festivals. As a researcher, she has received funding to study female patronage and the early 19th-century Strathspey style, with her work presented at major conferences. Alena also leads courses for the Edinburgh Adult Education programme and organises public events to make historical dance accessible.Frances Scott was trained at the Royal Northern College of Music as a pianist before joining the music staff of Scottish Ballet. She then moved to Covent Garden as a pianist with the Royal Ballet Company. Fortunate enough to own a harpsichord, she also worked with groups such as Kist o’ Music and Bruntsfield Baroque, giving concerts in St Cecilia’s Hall and the Georgian House, Edinburgh. Her interests include women composers such as Magdalene Stirling, whose reels appear in Gow’s collections, and Sophia Dussek, the eighteenth-century Scottish singer and harpist who made a career in London.The concert accompanies a mini-display, Women in Dance in Scotland, 1500 – 1800, which gives more information about the topic. The display can be viewed in Dundee Central Library between 8 February and March.The project is made possible through funding by the University of the Highlands and Islands Student Development Fund, funded by REC, the Early Dance Circle and support by the European Association for Dance History, the Wighton Heritage Centre in Dundee Central Library and Friends of Wighton.

The Scottish Enlightenment: Women in Dance and Music

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The Scottish Enlightenment: Women in Dance and Music

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